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Explore content from blog posts to technical white papers gathered together for your convenience. All written by Altium's community of PCB design experts.

Cave Markings and Circuit Boards: How to Read a PCB Assembly Drawing Cave Markings and Circuit Boards: How to Read a PCB Assembly Drawing “The devil is in the details.” Ever think about the meaning of that phrase? It tells us about the importance of details and that overlooking details will cause problems. Such a brief sentence also speaks to us about PCB assembly drawings. Accurate component placement makes the PCB layout easier. If we gloss over the small details, many different problems can damage circuit performance. PCB assembly drawings provide a master, controlled print of Read Article
3D Printing and PCB Design: Good Things Come in Three 3D Printing and PCB Design: Good Things Come in Three Early experimental jets from the design table to wind tunnel tests of models to actual piloted flight at a rapid rate. During the 1950s, aircraft designers relied on slide rules and blackboard mathematics rather than computer processing and virtual simulations. When a test pilot climbed into a cockpit, he climbed into an untested prototype. Some flights went very well and set speed and altitude records, while other flights… didn’t. As with Read Article
PCB Design and CAD Software: Know What Governs Your Designs PCB Design and CAD Software: Know What Governs Your Designs Every now and then, the phrase “rule of law” becomes part of conversations about how countries govern. Going all the way back to the 13th century Magna Carta, the “rule of law” speaks about the development of peaceful and equitable societies—and the need for basic human rights. Individuals living under the “rule of law” enjoy Equality under the law The transparency of law An independent judiciary and Access to legal remedy. Without rules for Read Article
With RF Circuit Impedance in Mind Your Designs Won't Look Bird-Brained With RF Circuit Impedance in Mind Your Designs Won't Look Bird-Brained Several years ago, scientists compared the aerodynamic characteristics of several bird species with different species of bats. Feathered bird wings become inactive during the upstroke and maintain lift. Every downstroke increases thrust, lift, and flight speed. In contrast, bats have membranous wings that produce lift during the upstroke. Regardless of their methods, birds and bats overcome weight and drag to achieve flight efficiency. Two Read Article
IoT Security Best Practices Printed Circuit Boards for IoT systems require special attention. Everyone knows how vulnerable IoT can become without the right security measures in place to ensure safety and compliance with regulations. Discover best practices to help avoid issues and vulnerabilities during board development and learn about security gateways, design options like IoT self-testing, and authentification. Click the PDF above to read more about IoT Security Best Download PDF
What is PCB design? With Kelly Dack and Judy Warner What is PCB design? With Kelly Dack and Judy Warner What is design? Have you been inside a board house? Join Altium’s Judy Warner and Kelly Dack, CID+, for a lively conversation about PCB design and becoming educated in the field. From CID and CID+ to visits to your fab house, learn how to learn for PCB design and where some of these resources are available today. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: “I had not been exposed to much 3D PCB design Read Article
Flex Cost Drivers, Solar Car Drivers and DFM OnTrack Newsletter March 2018 Flex Cost Drivers, Solar Car Drivers and DFM OnTrack Newsletter March 2018 On Track Newsletter March 2018 VOL. 1 No 12 Welcome to the March edition of the Altium® OnTrack Newsletter. We have some exceptional content for you this month—so read on! In Design Like a Girl, I interview PCB fabrication veteran and flex expert Tara Dunn of OMNI PCB who will share some insight into cost drivers for flex and rigid-flex circuits. In Next Gen Designers, I interview the Sunswift Solar-Electric team from the University of New South Read Article
Milling Artwork in Copper: PCB Router Bit Diameters Get the Job Done Milling Artwork in Copper: PCB Router Bit Diameters Get the Job Done Spring is a busy time of year in the garden. The yard brings chores, but with the right tools, time passes easily and pretty soon I’m enjoying my lawn chair. One of those chores is picking up all the dead leaves left from Autumn that remain in places they fell, blanketing areas of shrub beds and cement patio. For shrub beds, I use rake and hands to pick up leaves and throw them in the compost. For the patio, I fire up the pressure washer and Read Article
Laser Drilling Microvias and Stub Removal in PCBs Laser Drilling Microvias and Stub Removal in PCBs Anyone that has worked with a high power pulse laser knows the damage they can cause. In my optoelectronics days, destroying samples became routine as I ambitiously tried to coax a larger electrical response from my devices. But I was also able to use my trusty laser to fabricate interesting new devices by etching microscopic patterns in my samples. Mechanical drilling has been the standard method for placing via holes in PCBs and is still a Read Article
Oh the Boards You Will Make: Tips for Beginners in Design & Electronics Oh the Boards You Will Make: Tips for Beginners in Design & Electronics If there was ever a time to begin thinking about beginning your career as an electrical engineer, the time is right now! With the rise of so many electronics hardware startups, the advancements in circuitry and pcb design software, and the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, you’ve found yourself on a large and fast wave of industry. With the upbringing of so many companies and possibilities, the job market is very hot and yields Read Article
Design for Manual Prototyping and Throw Off Your Restraints Design for Manual Prototyping and Throw Off Your Restraints When I started driving, there weren’t many automatic transmission cars on the road. After driving for a decade, I got my first taste of an automatic transmission car. I adapted pretty quickly. However, if you’ve driven automatic transmission cars throughout your life, switching to manual can be a nightmare. As hardware designers, you’ll experience the same disjunction when transitioning from luxuriously developing simple designs via machine Read Article
Why Startup Transition is a Concern for Embedded Systems Why Startup Transition is a Concern for Embedded Systems Do you have a morning ritual? I can barely function without mine. My brain has a hard time operating without a big breakfast, some piping hot coffee, and five minutes browsing through my inbox even when there are zero unread emails. Having a morning ritual for your embedded system is helpful too. While you don’t need to serve any coffee to your PCB’s microcontroller, you do need to ensure that it efficiently handles the transitional state during Read Article
How an Integrated PCB Library Can Reduce Development Cost How an Integrated PCB Library Can Reduce Development Cost Editorial credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to developing new recipes for my kid. Just last week, I insisted on preparing the bolognese sauce from scratch as I tried to whip up a decent pasta dish. I ended up taking more time than I should have, as my son grew in frustration and hunger by the minute. That’s when I decided to just buy off-the-shelf pasta sauce next time. When I started working on electronics, I Read Article
A Schematic Tutorial in Altium Designer: The Journey of a Thousand PCBs How to Create a PCB Schematic | Altium Designer There’s an important step creating your PCB layout: How to create a PCB schematic? You might feel overwhelmed with all of the options, but don’t worry! Whether you’ve got decades of experience in your pocket or just starting your design or engineering career, your design begins with schematic capture. Below is a schematic capture and creation tutorial in Altium Designer, a top rated PCB editor program. If you want to skip to different steps in Read Article
Simplify Schematic and PCB Designs by Highlighting Nets Better PCB Routing - Highlight Nets Regardless how many PCBs I design, I always find myself having to regularly review network paths on schematics layer and trace routes on PCBs. The complexity reminds me of a maze where only one path is the right one for a particular network. It is imperative that all the connections are accurate as errors made here will come back to haunt you later in the form of redesigns. The best way to ensure network accuracy is by isolating it so that each Read Article
Starting Out in PCB Design with the Right Board Layout Software Starting Out in PCB Design with the Right Board Layout Software Recently my daughter-in-law posted a picture of my grandson’s feet along with the following statement: “I wonder where these feet will lead you in life my son, you are so full of curiosity and determination already.” As his grandfather, I already know for a fact that he is destined to become the most brilliant person ever to ever walk the face of the earth. Seriously though, wondering where our paths will take us in life is something that we will Read Article
High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design In the world of PCB design, high-density interconnect boards are among the fastest growing designs that are surfacing. Offering lighter weight, faster transmission times, more real estate to place components, and a reduction in signal loss there are few downsides to implementing these designs into your device. In any industry, the push for better, faster, stronger is usually a consumer-driven force. It is no different here. The push for devices Read Article